Depression is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), but it is unknown if successful depression treatment reduces CVD risk.

Using eIMPACT trial data, we examined the effect of modernized collaborative care for depression on indicators of CVD risk. A total of 216 primary care patients with depression and elevated CVD risk were randomized to 12 months of the eIMPACT intervention (internet cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT], telephonic CBT, and select antidepressant medications) or usual primary care. CVD-relevant health behaviors (self-reported CVD prevention medication adherence, sedentary behavior, and sleep quality) and traditional CVD risk factors (blood pressure and lipid fractions) were assessed over 12 months. Incident CVD events were tracked over four years using a statewide health information exchange.

The intervention group exhibited greater improvement in depressive symptoms (p < 0.01) and sleep quality (p < 0.01) than the usual care group, but there was no intervention effect on systolic blood pressure (p = 0.36), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.38), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.79), triglycerides (p = 0.76), CVD prevention medication adherence (p = 0.64), or sedentary behavior (p = 0.57). There was an intervention effect on diastolic blood pressure that favored the usual care group (p = 0.02). The likelihood of an incident CVD event did not differ between the intervention (13/107, 12.1%) and usual care (9/109, 8.3%) groups (p = 0.39).

Successful depression treatment alone is not sufficient to lower the heightened CVD risk of people with depression. Alternative approaches are needed.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02458690

Primary surgical resection remains the mainstay of management in locally advanced differentiated thyroid cancer. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors have recently shown promising results in patients with recurrent locally advanced differentiated thyroid cancer. This study discussed four patients with locally advanced differentiated thyroid cancer managed with tyrosine kinase inhibitors used prior to surgery in the ‘neoadjuvant’ setting.

Prospective data collection through a local thyroid database from February 2016 identified four patients with locally advanced differentiated thyroid cancer unsuitable for primary surgical resection commenced on neoadjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

All cases had T4a disease at presentation. Three cases tolerated tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for more than 14 months while the last case failed to tolerate treatment at 1 month. All patients subsequently underwent total thyroidectomy to facilitate adjuvant radioactive iodine treatment. Disease-specific survival remains at 100 per cent currently (range, 29–75 months).

Neoadjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitors in locally advanced differentiated thyroid cancer can be effective in reducing primary tumour extent to potentially facilitate a more limited surgical resection for local disease control.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is prevalent, often chronic, and requires ongoing monitoring of symptoms to track response to treatment and identify early indicators of relapse. Remote Measurement Technologies (RMT) provide an exciting opportunity to transform the measurement and management of MDD, via data collected from inbuilt smartphone sensors and wearable devices alongside app-based questionnaires and tasks.

To describe the amount of data collected during a multimodal longitudinal RMT study, in an MDD population.

RADAR-MDD is a multi-centre, prospective observational cohort study. People with a history of MDD were provided with a wrist-worn wearable, and several apps designed to: a) collect data from smartphone sensors; and b) deliver questionnaires, speech tasks and cognitive assessments and followed-up for a maximum of 2 years.

A total of 623 individuals with a history of MDD were enrolled in the study with 80% completion rates for primary outcome assessments across all timepoints. 79.8% of people participated for the maximum amount of time available and 20.2% withdrew prematurely. Data availability across all RMT data types varied depending on the source of data and the participant-burden for each data type. We found no evidence of an association between the severity of depression symptoms at baseline and the availability of data. 110 participants had > 50% data available across all data types, and thus able to contribute to multiparametric analyses.

RADAR-MDD is the largest multimodal RMT study in the field of mental health. Here, we have shown that collecting RMT data from a clinical population is feasible.

No significant relationships.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has greatly disrupted head and neck cancer services in the West of Scotland. This study aimed to assess the impact of the first wave of the pandemic on cancer waiting times.

A retrospective review of multidisciplinary team records was undertaken between March and May in 2019 and the same months in 2020. Time-to-diagnosis and time-to-treatment for new cancers treated with curative intent were compared between the study periods, and subclassified by referral pathway.

A total of 236 new cancer patients were included. During the pandemic, pathways benefitted from reduced diagnostic and treatment times resulting from the restructuring of service provisions. A 75 per cent reduction in secondary care referrals and a 33 per cent increase in urgent suspicion of cancer referrals were observed in 2020.

Head and neck cancer pathway times did not suffer because of the coronavirus pandemic. Innovations introduced to mitigate issues brought about by coronavirus benefitted patients, led to a more streamlined service, and improved diagnostic and treatment target compliance.

Little is known about methylphenidate (MPH) use and mortality outcomes.

To investigate the association between MPH use and mortality among children with an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis.

This population-based cohort study analysed data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). A total of 68 096 children and adolescents aged 4–17 years with an ADHD diagnosis and prescribed MPH between 2000 and 2010 were compared with 68 096 without an MPH prescription, matched on age, gender and year of first ADHD diagnosis. All participants were followed to death, migration, withdrawal from the National Health Insurance programme or 31 December 2013. MPH prescriptions were measured on a yearly basis during the study period, and the association between MPH use and mortality was analysed using a repeated-measures time-dependent Cox regression model. The outcome measures included all-cause, unnatural-cause (including suicide, accident and homicide) and natural-cause mortality, obtained from linkage to the National Mortality Register in Taiwan.

The MPH group had lower unadjusted all-cause, natural-, unnatural- and accident-cause mortality than the comparison group. After controlling for potential confounders, MPH use was associated with a significantly lower all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio AHR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.67–0.98, P = 0.027), delayed use of MPH was associated with higher mortality (AHR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.01–1.09) and longer MPH use was associated with lower mortality (AHR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70–0.98).

MPH use is associated with a reduced overall mortality in children with ADHD in this cohort study, but unmeasured confounding cannot be excluded absolutely.

Lipids appear to mediate depressive vulnerability in the elderly, however, sex differences and genetic vulnerability have not been taken into account in previous prospective studies.

Depression was assessed in a population of 1040 women and 752 men aged 65 years and over at baseline and after 7-year follow-up. Clinical level of depression (DEP) was defined as having either a score of 16 and above on the Centre for Epidemiology Studies Depression scale or a diagnosis of current major depression on the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Lipid levels, apolipoprotein E and serotonin transporter linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) genotypes were evaluated at baseline.

Multivariate analyses adjusted by socio-demographic and behavioral variables, measures of physical health including ischemic pathologies, and genetic vulnerability indicated gender-specific associations between dyslipidemia and DEP, independent of the use of lipid lowering agents or apolipoprotein E status. Men with low LDL-cholesterol levels had twice the risk of prevalent and incident DEP whereas in women low HDL-cholesterol levels were found to be significantly associated with increased prevalent DEP (OR = 1.5) only. A significant interaction was observed between low LDL-cholesterol and 5-HTTLPR genotype, men with s/s or s/l genotype being at increased risk of DEP (OR = 6.0 and 2.7, respectively). No significant gene-environment interaction was observed for women.

DEP is associated with higher atherogenic risk in women (low HDL-cholesterol), whereas the reverse is observed in men (low LDL-cholesterol). Late-life depression may have a complex gender-specific etiology involving genetic vulnerability in men.

Whereas depression as a risk factor for the incidence of activity limitations in the elderly has been confirmed, little attention has been paid to anxiety, despite its high prevalence, with or without comorbid depression.

In a community-dwelling cohort of 1581 participants aged 65 years and over, the association between trait anxiety symptoms (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, third highest tercile) and current DSM-IV anxiety disorder (GAD, PTSD, OCD, panic disorder, agoraphobia or social phobia) at baseline and 7-year incident activity limitations was determined using mixed logistic regression models. Repeated measures of activity limitations included by increased severity level: social restriction (neighbourhood and house confined), mobility (Rosow and Breslau scale) and limitations in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).

Of the sample, 42% were male and 14.2% had an anxiety disorder at baseline. Adjusting for socio-demographic and health variables, past and present depression and anxiolytic drugs, trait anxiety symptomatology was associated with increased incidence of social restriction (OR (95% CI): 2.46 (1.45–4.16), p = 0.0008) and current anxiety disorder with an increased risk of incident IADL limitation (OR (95% CI): 1.86 (1.01–3.41), p = 0.046). Associations remained significant in participants free of depressive symptoms at baseline (OR (95% CI): 2.92 (1.41–6.05), p = 0.004; OR (95% CI): 3.21 (1.31–7.89), p = 0.011, respectively).

Despite high comorbidity between depressive and anxiety symptoms, both trait symptomatology and anxiety disorder are independently associated with increased incident dependency with a gradient of severity: trait anxiety symptoms associated with incident social restriction and anxiety disorder with incidence of IADL limitations.